Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).

21 January 2017

Columban Fr Michael Harrison RIP

Fr Michael Harrison

(21 March 1924 - 17 January 2017)

Michael Harrison was born on 21 March
1924 at Bunduff, Castlegal, County Sligo, Ireland. He was educated at
Castlegal National School and Summerhill College, Sligo. He came to St
Columban’s, Navan, in 1942 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1948.

The following year he was appointed to
graduate studies in the USA. He completed an MA in history at Fordham
University, New York City, and followed this with training in journalism at the Denver
Catholic Register.

In 1952 he was appointed to the Philippines as Far East
correspondent of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, , the forerunner of today’s
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a post he held until
1956. He was then called back to work in the Central Offices of the Columbans in Bellevue, just south of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and
travelled through Korea and Japan on his way home. He spent the next fifteen
years in charge of the Mission Office where he was credited with organising the
mail operation to new levels of efficiency.

He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose
leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper (Psalm 1:3, Grail
translation).

From 1972 to 1975 he was editor of the magazine of the Columbans in the USA, now known as Columban Mission. In the years that followed he served in the Columban houses in
West Chester, near Philadelphia, in Quincy, near Boston, in Philadelphia and in Westminster, California. In
1984 he was appointed secretary to the Columban Central Administration in Ireland for three
years.

Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God (Psalm 42:1, Grail translation).

There followed appointments to Los Angeles and Omaha before being asked
to serve as Superior of Collegio San Columbano in Rome in 1992. Health problems
cut short this appointment and he was assigned instead to Bristol, Rhode Island, where he
served as vice-superior and bursar. He left Bristol for Ireland in 2011, where,
from his room in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, he relied on modern technology to stay in touch with a wide
circle of relatives and friends.

The variety of the tasks entrusted to Father Michael over the years are an indication of his many gifts, his discretion and
his quiet competence. Congenial, wise and never judgemental, he was deeply
appreciated by his colleagues and by the staff of the many houses in which he
served. He transferred to the Dalgan Nursing Home at the end of 2015 and died suddenly there on 17 January 2017.

May he rest in peace.

Perhaps the best know person associated with Fr Harrison's native
county is poet WB Yeats (1865-1939). And perhaps his best known poem isLake Isle of Innisfree.

About Me

A Catholic priest, a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban, from Dublin, Ireland, in the Philippines most of the time since 1971 but transferred back to Ireland in June 2017.
This is a purely personal blog, not representing the Columbans. My hope is that whatever appears here will in some way bring readers closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel as proclaimed by the Cathoiic Church.